saturate 08…wrap up!

moments that change lives. this weekend retreat was full of moments that started change! 

a few thoughts about the weekend…

- the altar is so vital to change
- worship was on another planet…the team was great…good job eric!
- some kids that have never responded in worship began to respond for the first time!
- islands of adventure-waited for like an hour in a guest services line for group tickets-thats pathetic!
- leadership is the key to a great retreat. props go out to all my peeps that stepped up this weekend- the band led by eric, equipment set up and tear down…headed up by ronnie, rooms check by daniel and lis, media headed up by pastor jon, tour bus driver brian, pastor jon taking the lead at islands, and all the room leaders-you guys rock!
- it takes a lot of work to pull off this weekend-but when you see the fruit in the altars-its all worth it!
- the valet guy called me father, pastor or whatever they call you…basically the unchurched don’t have a clue.
- we had a great group os students go this weekend…not without a little teenage drama.
- whenever you get a group of teenagers together there will always be some drama!
- funk stank is a word.

thanks to all those that read this blog and pray for crave…God was so good to us this weekend!

the only person you can be is you!

last night at our high school retreat shawn spoke to our students about their identity.  so many people are in an identity crisis…wow pastor has been preaching on identity this past month.  well the glory rolled in during worship…we had a small group time and the atmosphere was filled with laughter and communication. one of our goals at this reatreat was to get our students better connected to each other and God. we ended before midnight around the altars in HIS presence! 90% of the students made a commitment to get better connected to God! we spent some time in his presence before grabbing a late night snack.

i love the atmosphere in a retreat!

one word for last night…powerful!

today is gonna be a great day!

saturate 08 update…3

drop and add…thats the deal with events…some drop and others add and even one was told they can’t go…must be trouble:) well, we are gearing up for a great weekend the books are printed worship is cranking speaker is flying but pastor jon (my associate) his laptop took a nose dive.  gotta love a mac until you get this grey screen over and over that says you need to restart. well, at least it’s taking place now and not in the middle of the retreat.  i am totally looking forward to this weekend!

if you read this…say a prayer for the 70 of us headin out tomorrow!

 

saturate 08 update…2

youth ministry…get kids  to sign up but does that mean anything?  put out sheets, talk to people and then deal with all the maybes, were going where, saturate what?  yah!  welcome to the world of youth ministry.  its all good.  they are students and about as undecided as anyone else…we enlisted some students to add some positive pressure on others to go!  influence is powerful when its on their level!  well there are a ton signed up and still more to come…overload is what we are praying for, but i think my overload is just dealing with all the drama pre trip.  day 3 of the fast is going well.  god is going to do something big! i can feel it!  i went to lunch not to eat but see kids…they ate meatloaf and mash potatoes and gravy! it was hard but all i got was a good smell.  

saturate 08…its rolling full speed ahead!

saturate ‘08

high school retreat…orlando florida resort hotel, shawn hennessy, great worship, and a day at islands of adventure.  register right away!turn in $25 to register! 

i crave vision…

this weekend we had a youth leadership team retreat. we spent a night and a day praying, casting vision and listening to someone speak into our lives. Rick Lorimer came and challenged our team in may ways. i leave this weekend refreshed, excited, frustrated and challenged. now thats a lot of emotion all rolled up together. We have a great team of leaders that serve as volunteers and touch the lives of hundreds students each week. let me explain my emotions…

refreshed- ever go to a convention or training seminar and someone says just what you are thinking and confirms what you already know…yah that happened this weekend.

excited- reading what we put on paper is going to take hard work, but i know our people are up to it, and i feel like we are right on the edge of doing something truly significant.

frustrated- our pastor said this week that energy spent without strategy is a waste of time-now that is a mouthful! i feel like this weekend was a catalyst for crave, and there will be more like it, but (there you go a big BUT always tries to get in the way) there is a real devil that will try his best to defeat strategy. this weekend was BIG…and when you put yourself in the right position, there will always be hinderances…PRESS ON!

challenged- i look at what we are going to do this year (what we talk about at calvary we do) and recognize the challenge. i am up for a good challenge. the minute i lose the edge of challenge is when its time to move onto other things!

in the words of some peeps i know…giddy up!

just a word for anyone that works with students…energy without strategy is a waste of time! don’t waste your time, do something significant…stop making excuses for what you don’t have and start spending energy with strategy and see God show up!

super sunday…umbrella?

today i woke up tired from preaching 3 times in 2 days to hungry college students. last night i preached a message on the brink and students jumped into the presence of god. a young man from uf had been saved a few weeks earlier found himself at a retreat asking for the baptism of the holy ghost…he stood and spoke in plain english then I explained to him that when you try to understand you fail to receive what God has for you…he stood there and one second we were worshipping together and the next we were speaking a heavenly language. God is so cool. this guy was filled and you could see an evident change in his life. what an amazing weekend. we closed out the weekend committing to climb higher in God. these students were so hungry and easy to preach to! i have to say that this experience with young adults was a great privilege!
when we finished I ran off to get back to calvary!

this weekend was amazing. I came in and they were taking the offering and a girl stepped up and sang the song umbrella- by rihanna. thats right she sang umbrella and there were umbrellas all over the place. pastor preached a moving word on the good samaritan then there was a live drama on stage with a couple, a drug user that was suicidal, a cutter and a senior citizen. powerful message…powerful stats…if the church would just use there umbrella to protect the hurting. they closed with pastor holding a huge umbrella over the people and there lives changed. it was truly a creative and moving message. pastor you hit a home run this weekend!